As you may know, I have been super cleaning and reorganizing my scrappy place. I have been trying to use some older papers and supplies. The paper, brad and stickers are from BoBunny's Jazmyne collection. I really liked the tri shutter tutorial, and it let me use my score board. I have 2 scoreboards, Martha Stewart's is my favorite one. The ink is Stampin'Up's Elegant Eggplant. With this glitter paper, glue squares were a must, I used Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares. Break out your scoreboard and try it today. WHAT?! You don't have a scoreboard? You can use a ruler and bone folder instead. Now, go be crafty.

Monday, June 25, 2012

This weekend, the Fiskateers made Thank You cards for the Lead Fiskateers who are retiring at the end of the month. I found a card sketch on the Inspired by Stamping blog,http://www.inspiredbystampin.com
and since I am still in card mode, I pulled out some older papers and made this card based on the sketch. These are some older LYB papers. They are from Cupcake Love and/or Sweet Love. Speaking of love, I love LYB papers. They have a great texture and quality. Each new line has wonderful extras to go with them: jewels, fabric stickers, flower kits etc. So many choices that practically guarantee a great project.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

LOVED making the second journal. I didn't have all the right tools, but was able to substitute with pretty decent results. The cover is from Unibind. The papers are Bo Bunny's Butterfly Garden and Sugar Dot in black & white. I am pretty pleased with the results. She does need more of a neck though.

So, have you done any mixed media projects you are proud of? Do you enjoy them?

I began a Creative Journey two nights ago. Sweet friend Cheryl Waters, recently had a giveaway on her blog, and I won. The prize? A spot in an E- class by Jeanne Griffin Oliver, Creatively Made (rediscovering the beauty of your gifts). Cheryl is such a talented lady. You can see her blog here: http://blog.artsyfindings.com/2012/06/11/jeanne-olivers-creatively-made-e-course-and-generosity.aspx .The first class posted Sunday night. I got started on it and lost total track of time, finally headed to bed after 4:30 am. Here is the first project. I love listening to Jeanne's insight and such an interesting project.

We began with an old book, removed the cover, made a window and began creating. I didn't have to buy anything, all of this is from my stash. I am ever so thankful for winning the class. You can see more of Jeanne here: http://jeanneoliverdesigns.com/blog/

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Not sure when my semi-obsession with Flamingoes began, but my guest bathroom is decorated with them.
This LO is with Webster's Palm Beach "Flamingo Fun" paper, a tag I made recently and some
odd and end letters spelling out "F" words that remind me of words to describe
Flamingoes. Zoe, my Build A Bear Workshop Flamingo, is also pictured here. I
gave myself a pink shiny wing with the "Love Takes Flight" squeeze punch. You
can win one here:

I used my sewing machine to stitch around the photo. Later I added a wing
to the flamingo too.

This is the card only, and it shows off the GORGEOUS
embroidered wrapping paper I got from a local gift and stationary store - MUG
& PIA (Most Unusual Gifts & Paper Items Anywhere). I think I will use
it to make a book.

A special card needs a special envelope. Thank you Mark Montano. Mark recently made some envelopes with book pages. I now have my sewing machine conveniently located in my crafting area so I can stitch on a whim (and on paper).

Thanks for stopping by. What are you going to craft today? Are you going to try envelopes?

Friday, June 15, 2012

I really love the new Tim Holtz Alterations Vintage Globe die cut. I used black glitter paper, Webster's Pages "Clean & Simple - In Love. HEARTBEATS" front and back on the card on the left, and with KaiserCraft "Relax" from The Lake House Collection on the right, I added a red glittered heart punched out with the Fiskars "Funky Heart" squeeze punch and wings punched from packing paper using the Fiskars "Love Takes Flight" psqueeze punch. I made the words on the computer and used distress ink by Ranger on the edges of the left one, which made everything stand out better. Random winner will get 5 of the Vintage Globe shapes cut from chipboard. How would you use this die cut?

The winner is Kelly Sas - email me Kelly with "Winner" in the subject line.
donna_lynn_woods@hotmail.com

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Today I played with some new goodies. I spotted this image last week and knew I wanted to make a masculine birthday card with it. Using Sissix/Tim Holtz Alterations Tick-Tock die, some ribbon, kraft card stock, black glitter cardstock, Graphic 45 stamped metal brads and a few pieces of the G45 "A Ladie's Diary Collection, I made 2 slightly different cards. My trimmer needs a new blade, this gave the edges a slightly distressed look. I inked all the edges. I used ribbon and a brad on one, then just 3 brads on the other, and switched the sentiment from inside to out. I printed the sentiment on the kraft cardstock with the computer, cut the letters out, inked the edges and glued them down. This paper line is very pretty in soft pink, blue and green tones. This diecut is also wonderful and all kinds of ideas are swimming in my head.

This is one of the newest "Tim" dies. He has a great globe and camera out now also. Tell me what would you do with this diecut and you might receive 5 of these shapes cut from chipboard to make your own creation.

Monday, June 11, 2012

For the past week, I have been cleaning my scrapbook room. I decided to remove EVERYTHING but the furniture. I am sorting as I remove things and I will sort and evaluate everything as I move it back in. The project sounded like a week or 2 event, but, now, I will be pleased if I am done by the end of the summer. One problem is, I keep having ideas for using things... WAIT! That isn't a problem, it is creativity. As a scrapbooker, there are tons of photos at my place. As a child of hoarders, I keep all of them. But, I also realize that I have many that will never be used, and they are crowding my space. Today I grabbed a handful of photos and began to scrutinze each one. What can I do with this? Will I ever use it? Can it be altered in some way? Some went in the recycle bin, some are being distributed to my children, some I will scrap for the first, second or fifth time. This photo is of a figurine of a pair of flamingoes my friend Linda from Huntington, Texas sent me. I imagined fussy cutting the flamingoes out. The Fiskar's 360 degree craft knife was perfect for this. I have never been very good working with craft knives, but I am learning! First thing is: get a cutting mat. I love my Creative Memories self healing mat. Next, cut all the hard parts out FIRST! All this time, I have been cutting the main shape out first. If you cut the little bits out first, you have something to hold onto while cutting. Then you can fussycut around the edges. I find it better for me, to bring the paper to the scissors or craft knife. Allow yourself room to rotate the image. Once the image was ready, I popped it up on Stampin'Up dimensionals. The paper is from my vast stash - Colorbok's Friendly Forest collection. I cut out a 2 sided tag, 3X6 inches, rounded the top corners, and punched a hole in the center. I affixed the cut image, then decided to add a ribbon banner on the bottom with some Scor-Tape by Scor-Pal Products. Then I attatched the front and back of tags together. I used the FRIEND part of the FURRY FRIENDS stamp from the Fiskars Beary Fun Simple Stick Repositionable Rubber Stamps
set. I colored the part I wanted to use with one of my Stampin' Up markers. A quick "huff" on the stamp and the image is down. I added dabs of shine with Stickles. Finally, I used 2 flowers on the front and one on the back and felt really pleased with the results. I challenge you to look through your photographs and find an image to play with. Share the link with your project here. I would love to see what you create.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Prima's new Meadow Lark Collection is so beautiful! As soon as I spotted it on the paper rack at my LSS, I had "tweet" ideas flitting about in my brain. For this layout I used one sheet of American Crafts cardstock for the background, one sheet of "Audonbon" from the Meadow Lark Collection, some of Prima's "Essential PETALS Meadow Lark" flowers, one chipboard sticker from Prima, a Studio G stamp, Stampin'Up's white pigment ink, Stamp N Stuff embossing powder in opaque Blushing Pink Pastel, and bling embellishments by ZVA. I popped up the border strip on the bottom using Stampin'Up dimensionals. Liberty reminds me of a little bird. She has long, thin arms and legs and is light as a feather. The L is for Liberty, but it could also be for love...

Saturday, June 9, 2012

The other day my July/August copy of Paper Crafts magazine arrived. I got as far as page 17 and found "Playing with Paint, Part II". I found my inspiration for affixing letter stickers to create a mask. Instead of paint, I used dylusions ink spray by Ranger. My colors are cut grass, pure sunshine & squeezed orange. I used Simply Sweet letters by Doodlebug Design Inc. and added a few brads. I stamped birthday at the bottom using a green marker. Isn't it fresh and cheery?

Graphic 45 makes some of the most beautiful papers. Last week, I played a bit with some of the Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue collection.

I used 1 Oceana, 1 Seaside Holiday, 2 Island Jewel and 1 cream cardstock. I also used somStampin'Up Stampin'Dimensionals, Creative Memories chalking ink in brown, a black gel pen, a white UniBall pen and some jewels. The flowers in the upper right hand corner are popped up. The ones on the left hand side are just glued down. I love these wonderful colors and patterns. Graphic 45 lends itself to lots of fussycutting and layering. Maxine Hodges - owner of the Scrapbook Page in Barboursville, WV, and her talented crafters have taught me so much about looking at paper and "listening" to what it tells you. Hope this inspires you to try to listen to what paper is telling you soon.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Groovy Deb and her talented design team members have been playing with all white layouts the last few days. It takes a challenge like this for you to really dig through your stash and find particular colors (or non-colors). I found a little white fun foam bunny and decided to do another Binky Bunny LO. The photo has all the color needed for the LO. I added Crystal Effectz Opal Essence and bling to the fun foam bunny. To add more dimension and make the title, Binky, stand out, Duncan Snow Accents was dabbed on with my favorite tool - a fingertip. The flower and butterfly are from Prima. The glittery birds are punched from a DCWV LA CREME Cardstock Matstack, using Fiskars Jenni Bowlin Flight Squeeze Punch (Large) - Special
Edition. The shaped white textured paper came from my favorite local scrapbook store - The Scrapbook Page. I placed it on an American Crafts textured cardstock. It was destined for the recycle bin, but was upcycled to this LO instead. I added some clear bling and "Voila!", here it is. Head on over to "If It's Groovy" and check out the great white layouts over there: http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com/2012/06